Hidden Wings
by swandreamer
Summary: Neji ended up playing cupid, only to hurt himself more. A sequel to my one shot, unsaid.
1. Without Arrows

**Hidden Wings**

swandreamer

"Don't faint." Neji closely whispered to Hinata's ear as a plain reminder to her habitual response to close proximity. She gave a simple nod as a sign of obedience.

Drag by the prodigy from the training ground to another place, Ichiraku Ramen was her most unexpected place to be at. They were given the whole day to train before the heiress spar with her father the following week. Instead of doing their responsibility, there they are, slacking. Covered with sweat and dirt, the heiress can't understand her cousin's impulse to stride and pull her away from the compound in the middle of their training while he mumbled something about taking a break from her hopeless romantic symptoms.

Taking a step forward from Hinata's back, Neji called out audibly, "Naruto!"

She stiffened from the mere mention of the jinchuuriki's name. She nervously pointed her fingers together while staring at the ground. This will be the first time he'd see her personally after her dramatic and most memorable confession in Konoha's love history.

"Oi! Neji!" a cheerful greeting from the Uzumaki, "Ohayo!"

Hinata instantly looked up to him. He immediately took notice of her.

"Hinata-chan! How are you?" she gave a weak smile and an obvious blush. Again, Neji restrained himself to twitch. This was the second time he saw her react this way on the same day when Naruto pass by their training ground an hour ago.

Wanting to keep it fast and straight to the point, he step back and gently pushed Hinata forward, only few inches away from Naruto, "She has something to ask you."

Hinata wrung her hand nervously, too self-conscious to even speak. Neji raised an eyebrow, both guys waiting to hear her voice.

"Well?" Naruto eagerly wait, "What about?" followed by an unnoticeable impatient question.

Neji couldn't wait for more than a minute to let her speak while watching her love symptoms takes an exaggerated visual manifestation. He took initiative to speak for her.

"She wants to know if you'd _like_ to go out with her." He bluntly remarked, followed by a cold stare. Was he trying to intimidate him to get a favorable response? Hinata fidgeted in surprise and started to stammer, "Wh-what? I-I don-" When Neji realized that it gives an option, he abruptly change his phrase before Naruto can answer, "Go out with her."

It wasn't a question. Hinata's jaw drop, speechless and embarrass with her cousin's demanding statement. She kept quiet, waiting for Naruto's response. Neji bit his lower lip in annoyance as Hinata's pink blushed turned to bright red while taking nervous glances to the person in front of them.

He sighed heavily while shifting his gaze to Naruto, "Well?"

Though the Uzumaki was slightly confused why the prodigy approached him out of the blue. He gave an answer without having second thoughts, "Well, why not? I'll be happy too!"

"Good." He responded turning his back away from him, "We'll set the date."

Naruto scratch the back of his head and chuckled sheepishly with Neji's unusual behavior of being aggressive, nonetheless, helpful with Hinata. He watched Neji take a hold of Hinata's wrist and walk away, stating that they have to go back training.

On their way back, Neji thought playing cupid was the best solution to Hinata's annoying love symptoms. Hinata did not find him approachable; however, he made her happy, this time, he really did. Maybe she should thank him,

"A-ano… nii-san, ariga-"

"Don't thank me," Neji cut her maintaining his poise, "not yet."

Hinata smiled and hop one foot to another, over taking her cousin's slow walk while they return back to their training ground. Neji sighed admiring her, pleased by his plan put into action… slowly, his smile faded into a blank expression, then, a slight frown.

Should he really be happy about it?

**A/N:** **Readers' Review, that's all it takes for me to continue. Let me know your thoughts.**


	2. Paranoia

**Chapter 2 ****Paranoia**

Hinata lay on bed completely naked with only white sheets to cover her lower body.

She had her head rested on red pillows while her back face her beloved. She felt warm when he moved closer to brush her long dark blue hair to her front, giving him a good view of the curves of her upper body.

While breathing at her nape, he set his hand at her back, tracing his fingers from her neck down her spine. She gasped feeling the tingling sensation induce from his touch. She turned around to face him and deliberately slid her arms around his neck as she playfully curled his short blonde hair between her fingers. She pulled him closer and met his blue eyes. Their lips almost touching, he teased, slowly kissing her collarbone up to her neck and graze her earlobe, causing her to moan his name.

"_Neji…" _

That's odd. She should have mentioned Naruto's name instead of his.

"_Neji!"_

This time, her voice was noticeably different. It was neither soft nor gentle. It was strong and commanding. It took a few seconds when he realized that the voice was not from the heiress.

Tenten had been snapping her fingers in front of his face. He had his eyes glued on his bento, lost in his thoughts, before shifting his gaze to his teammate.

_"You're spacing out. Are you okay?"_

He was day dreaming. He blushed when he realized this.

"I'm fine." He replied coldly, maintaining his poise and pride.

"Then don't stare at your food, eat." Tenten shrugged, rolling her eyes from him.

Neji _sighed_, grabbing the chopsticks at his side and selected the soba herring prepared by heiress. It was delicious. Hinata is a perfect cook in spite of her poor strength as a kunoichi. He was proud of her skills, he'd sometimes boast to his team having bento packed for lunch. It was unusual for him to do that, but he consciously does it to show that they were good terms. However, he was acting differently that day. His moves were off and had his defense down during training. He needed a break and having lunch was supposed to energize him.

"You look worried." Tenten stated after a careful observation of her teammate's behavior.

"**I am**." He emphasized as he eyed the couple who were few meters away from their table. Love birds and their public display of affection made him twitched. He would have described their actions as lewd and improper.

"Do you think it was the right thing to do?" he asked hesitantly before tasting another sashimi from his bento. He kept his eye on the couple. A civilian guy had his arms wrapped around a blonde girl wearing a skimpy dress. His face was close to her and they were creating sharp funny sounds that annoyed him, delaying his lunch. Neji ignorantly mumbled to Tenten hearing something about sexy nights and end up asking why they are so excited.

Tenten laughed at Neji who was eagerly eavesdropping. You can't blame him; he wasn't very familiar with these relationships. He was a workaholic since child. He didn't have time to fool around, no vices and never had the time to flirt with girls. He was strict and kept his moral standards high.

When Tenten realized what Neji was thinking, she energetically stated, "C'mon, don't be so paranoid! Naruto isn't a sex maniac. They won't do it on their first date." She tries to assure him by patting his shoulder; nonetheless, it wouldn't be so bad if... "Maybe on their second night," she teased him.

Neji frowns at her, it wasn't funny. Tenten giggled

When the couple left, Neji thought about what she said. Maybe she was right; _maybe_ he was just being paranoid. From all his friends, Tenten is closer to him; they got along well, shared some philosophies within their team and had built strong friendship. She knew him well.

"It was really nice of you to help her out." She reminded him, as if to imply that he shouldn't have, "We all know she's been in love with him since we were kids."

"It was nothing." He responded monotonously. Neji wasn't sure if what he did was admirable.

"Why?" Tenten asked, sipping her tea. "She's been spacing out during training." He reasoned out.

"Like you?" Tenten added with a sly smile.

Neji paled.

"Wha-what?" a stammer, surprisingly, like Hinata's.

"It's natural to constantly think of someone when you're in love." She looked at him observantly, moving her face close to his. He moved back in response and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you saying I'm in love with someone?" hypothetically, yes.

"Probably!" she cheerfully replied with a shrug.

"Ridiculous." He blushed, "Maybe you are, you seem to know a lot."

Tenten sweat. He took a sip of his tea before finally standing up. He can no longer take her observing stare under her eyes.

"I'm leaving." He stated.

She sighed watching him leave.

o0o

That night, he pinched the bridge his nose as he pondered his behavior earlier that day. Tenten was right, he is in love and he was worried, too worried actually… but he couldn't let anyone know, not even Hinata.

**A/N:** It's amazing you read the 2nd chapter. Review, why not?


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